The run-up to the Super Bowl pits predictions against each other. Last time I looked, San Francisco was still the odds-on favorite with bettors, but over the last week it seems that sports commentators are heavily favoring Kansas City. A large majority of sportswriters polled by ESPN are picking the Chiefs, ending with the Athletic predicting the Niners defeat, because of a suspect defense.
The zeitgeist has also been favoring the Chiefs, with the midwestern Kansas City touted as the American team, vs. those weirdos and lefties from San Francisco in the Republic of California. Throw in the Taylor Swift quotient (expect thousands of new viewers to tune in just to see if she makes it from Japan to Las Vegas in time for the game) and Kansas City seems the media darling.
I will guess that the Niners looking at all this, especially after being consigned to a soggy practice field and been awakened by a false fire alarm, are feeling like unappreciated underdogs, despite the betting lines. I will guess they have something to prove, and they may even be a little angry. On the defensive and offensive lines especially, anger helps. Motivation may not always win games, but it might win this one.
Meanwhile...at last! With their new starting lineup and rotation, the still undermanned Golden State Warriors are winning. They won 4 of 5 games on their road trip, including two by around 20 points, and the one they lost was in overtime, the second of a back-to-back in Atlanta. Then they came home to another one point game, but this time--at last!--they won it, on a final shot by Steph Curry. They beat a western conference rival, the Phoenix Suns--something else they hadn't done recently. With this victory the Dubs finally clawed their way back to an even record.
And indeed, they survived the trade deadline intact, losing only one bench player (Cory Joseph), who might end up back on the team anyway before the season is over. Andrew Wiggins has--finally!--come around to playing closer to his potential. But the big story of this period is Jonathan Kuminga, who at the start of the trade talk was supposedly on the block, and by the end was "untouchable." His blossoming makes him clearly a major part of the Warriors' future. Among the other pieces that are working, there is the basic dynamic of Curry dominating outside and Kuminga now punishing opponents at the rim.
Both Lester Quinones and Gui Santos got playing time and excelled, while Brandin Podziemski did well according to what was needed, playing significant minutes with the starters. They all provided energy that the team fed on. Moreover, the Warriors won a couple of those games without an ailing Klay Thompson, and all of them on the road without the injured Gary Payton II. Payton's return Saturday was electric--now the Dubs are mixing in alley-oops with Payton and JK as well as Trayce-Jackson Davis. Chris Paul may soon return, while other bench players cycle through minor injuries. Suddenly other teams aren't going to want to see the Warriors in the playoffs, though the Dubs are going to have to keep winning to get there.
